Precious things
by minirix
Summary: Set in my 'Beautiful Mess' universe. A follow-up chapter of 'Between the lines' and takes place before chapter 4 of "Beautiful Mess", the story is just about Chuck and Carina spending time together after a day's work. One-shot.


_Meant to be a follow-up chapter of 'Between the lines' and takes place before chapter 4 of "Beautiful Mess", this story is just about Chuck and Carina spending time together after a day's work. Didn't want to post it actually (finished the chapter last year) but since some of you asked and PMed me about a sequel to "BM" and while I really have no intention of expanding that story as of yet, I thought this should do it :) Hope it's not too cringe inducing._

_Disclaimer: Really? Again? Here goes: Chuck's not mine. He belongs to a certain redhead. Well, in here at least ;)_

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><p>Carina winced as she gingerly touched her sore cheek. Grabbing the hand mirror by her bedside, she studied the reddish spot, cursing under her breath. The damn thing is going to turn blue in no time.<p>

"That thing's gonna swell," she heard Chuck's voice behind her.

Carina swivelled her head around with a pout, "Thanks for the tip, Nancy Drew."

With an easy smile on his lips, Chuck leaned against her door frame with one hand in his pocket and the other holding a packet of ice.

"Why wouldn't you visit the doctor? Looks kinda nasty."

"What for? It's not a fracture. Figures," she traced it lightly with her fingertip, flinching again at the touch. "The bitch swung like a girl."

Chuck laughed at her petulance and walked to her bed. "She _is_ a girl... well a woman. And stop touching it already," he told her as he sat on the bed. Pulling down the small towel hanging from his shoulder, he wrapped it around the packet of ice and cupped her face gently as he looked intently at the bruising on her cheek.

Carina tensed involuntarily at the contact. She sighed internally; it hadn't always been like this.

She pushed his hand away and tried to grab the ice-pack from him but before she could, Chuck had already raised it high above his head; out of her reach.

"Chuck," she tried again, reaching for it. "Give that back."

"It wasn't yours to begin with."

Carina got up on her knees but Chuck stopped her by gently pushing her shoulder down with his free hand.

"Damnit, Chuck! I can do it myself."

"Why won't you ever let me take care of you?"

"Because-" she sat down cross-legged once again on the bed, folding her arms. "I can do it myself, alright. I always do. It's nothing major."

His kind eyes gazed at her earnestly. "I know," he said. "But you have me now. You don't have to do everything yourself."

Carina exhaled in defeat. Her cheek was throbbing and she clearly wasn't in the mood to argue. But of course, that didn't prevent her from getting her last words in.

"Bully," she muttered. "Must be nice being tall and all."

A gentle laugh came from him. "Sure is. My height is my only advantage over you."

"Glad to know you're very well aware that I'm better than you at everything else."

"Always with the last say," he smiled and gently pressed the ice-pack on the bruising. She inhaled sharply at the contact and Chuck immediately stopped his ministration; furrowing his eyebrow in concern.

"Sorry. Was I too rough?"

"No. Just stings a little."

Thinking silently for a moment, he said, "Wait here," before he hurried out of her bedroom. Chuck came back a short while later with a glass of water and a bottle of Tylenol. He unscrewed the cap, popped out two caplets and handed the glass of water and the caplets to her.

Carina raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Tylenol? I usually take Aspirin," she said but she took them from his hand nonetheless and swallowed the two caplets.

"_Aspirin_? Trust me on this okay. This is better. Both my sister and brother-in-law are doctors, so I'm pretty sure about this."

Satisfied, Chuck turned his attention on her injury again, repeating his previous action. "Tell me if I'm pressing too hard."

Her voice somehow failed her at that moment and all she could muster was a weak nod. She didn't want him to take care of her. To be dependant on someone was never her style. Plus, Carina always prided herself on being in control of her own situation. But Chuck had a way of making that impossible. And she hated that. Because it will make her look vulnerable.

"We have to treat this with a warm compress after two days," Chuck informed her.

"I _have_ done this before."

"I know," he grinned. "Just wanted to rile you up a little."

"Just because my cheek's bruised, that doesn't mean that I can't launch an attack on you from this position, Mister."

"_Right_. But seriously, I don't see why you have to hit her just now. We were only supposed to talk to her. Get her to give us some information about the people she worked with. And we were getting close to achieving that objective."

"We were told to interrogate. Not talk, Chuck. And what? I should just let her come and attack you?" Carina snapped. "I warned her that she shouldn't move."

"She touched my hand."

"Still a movement," she shrugged.

"You're crazy you know?"

"Usually that line would be yelled at me and not said by someone who's sitting on my bed, tending to my wound."

"Makes for a nice change doesn't it? Told you it's good to keep me around."

"And to think that I was about to pay him a compliment," she countered, eyeing him wickedly.

"Like you would ever give me that satisfaction."

"I would consider it had you been quick enough to stop her from giving me this nasty bruise. That intersect is in your head for a reason, Chuck."

Chuck stared at her in shock. "I can't kung-fu an unarmed woman. That's just... wrong. I did restrain her though."

"After the damage was done." Carina seethed a little. "She wasn't just a woman. That bitch was involved in arms-dealing and probably drug smuggling too. You know how I feel about the latter. Still think she's just an ordinary woman?"

"I know that," he hesitated before adding, "but still, I can never bring myself to hit the female species unless it's for self-defence. I just can't."

"You're just taking her side 'cause she's a brunette right and kinda slutty?"

Chuck let out an exasperated laughter. "You're ridiculous. Why would I be interested in her when I already have you. I'm just saying that you shouldn't have hit her first. I can- what? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Sometimes she dearly wished he would just stop talking for once. She gave her head a tiny shake and plastered on a quick smile. "You were saying?"

Chuck cast her a doubtful look and continued, "I was saying that I should probably talked to her tomorrow – alone. I don't think she'd want to talk to you again after today's debacle."

"There's no way I'm leaving you alone with her. That's ridiculous. You took the cuffs off her just now and tomorrow... you're gonna what-let her stroll in the park, have a picnic and sing your Kumbayas?"

He sighed. "I thought the best way to get her to cooperate with us was to make her see that we were not trying to hurt her," Chuck reasoned with her. "Hey," he placed his hand on her shoulder when she refused to meet his eyes. "Don't you trust me?"

"You better not take those cuffs off," she warned, eyeing him warily. "If I even see one tiny scratch on your face-"

"_S_he's so gonna pay," Chuck finished off her sentence, grinning. "Thank you," he said, his gaze softening. "For always being my protector."

A small smile cracked through her exterior. As she looked at him, smiling back at her, Carina couldn't help wondering what his existence in her life meant to her. To this particular question that she'd formed in her mind, Carina couldn't find an answer. She held his hand that was holding the ice-pack away from her face. "Give it to me, Chuck."

"We have to do this for at least ten minutes more," he protested.

"Which is why, I'm asking you to give it to me." She took it away from his hand. "Because you," she pushed at his chest with her palm, "are making me hot cocoa. Might as well do it properly if you're talking care of me."

His face split into a huge smile. "Admit it, Miller. You liked getting pampered by me right?"

Carina shoved his face playfully with her palm. "Before I change my mind, Bartowski."

"Marshmallows?"

"You think?"

"Right," he nodded. "I'll be right back."

Carina watched him leave with a smile on her face. And she thought to herself: why shouldn't she get use to this. Life's short anyway, especially when considering the precarious nature of the life of a spy.

She never cared about repercussions or regretted any of the decisions she'd made. Carina also never had to second-guess her actions. So why now? Why the constant hesitation after an entire decade without any form of inhibition or reservation? Why couldn't she make herself handle Chuck like she did the others?

Staring at the ice-pack in her hand, she slowly brought it up to her cheek. There would be plenty of time to think about those issues later.

Chuck reappeared a few minutes later with two steaming mugs of hot cocoa topped with marshmallows and set them down on her bedside table. "Here you go," he handed one mug over to her with both hands. "Careful, it's hot."

"You like playing doctor, don't you? Tending to the damsel in distress – so to speak?" She chuckled before she pop a piece of marshmallow in her mouth. "This is what you did for S-" Carina darted a quick glance at him, "for your sister?"

He didn't respond immediately as he reached for his mug. Chuck sipped the hot cocoa, a hint of a bitter smile emerging on his lips. She felt a twinge of regret when she saw his expression. And his non response bothered her more than Carina was willing to admit.

He took the ice-pack she'd place beside her. "I'm not going to dissolve into molecules if you say her name out loud," Chuck said, finally looking at her.

"How original? You're stealing lines from a movie now?"

Chuck stared in bemusement at her and he finally laughed. "You lied. You said that you weren't paying attention to the movie."

"I never said I wasn't paying attention to that cute guy on the screen."

"Ethan Hawke's not _that_ cute," he made a face, bringing the ice-pack up to her cheek. "Besides, what's beautiful is the story itself. You're missing the whole point of 'Before Sunset'."

"You're just jealous."

His laughter only brought Carina temporary reprieve when she suddenly remembered what she had been meaning to ask him since they left the headquarters. "What did director Andrews want with you?"

"Asked me some questions. No biggie," Chuck told her, alternating between sipping his drink and pressing the ice pack on her bruise.

Carina touched his hand, making him stop his treatment. "_What_ questions?"

"He wanted to know what I did in Burbank, the team that I was working with, the team's success rate," Chuck pondered for a while as if recollecting his conversation with the director. "Oh and he also wanted to know if I was comfortable working with them and how I'm adapting so far being paired up with you." Chuck beamed at her. "He praised our almost perfect success rate."

She bit her lower lip and narrowed her eyes. "And you don't find that strange?"

Chuck contemplated on that for a second and shook his head. "Well, I don't know why he wanted to know about the team's dynamic but other than that, I thought he was just making conversation. You said so yourself, I'm their prized asset. I thought it's normal for them to enquire about my well-being."

Carina pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes momentarily. Her heart began to be filled with dread the more Chuck elaborated and she couldn't help the growing frustration that bubbled inside at Chuck's naivety.

"Chuck, what did I tell you? Never trust anyone. Especially people in this business. And _especially_ the higher ranking ones. The higher up they go, the more conniving they get. Spies are all manipulative," Carina remonstrated, growing increasingly infuriated

"Not all of them." Then with more conviction, "At least, not you."

She sighed in exasperation, "You don't know me, Chuck. You don't know what I was capable of. _What _I'm still capable of. You don't know about my past."

"Clearly I don't. And you know what; I don't care about your past. I only care about the 'here' and 'now'. I only know what I see and _you _are not one of those spies that you talked about."

Talking to him could be so infuriating sometimes. And at other times, he could find just the right words to chip away at her wall. She had to look away. Anywhere was better than looking into the steadfast gaze of his warm brown eyes.

"Don't..." she began.

"What?" Chuck asked in concern.

"Don't-" Carina started again but she sighed. "Just be careful."

His frown gave way to a relief expression. "Well you always have my back. I'm not worried at all."

Carina gulped down her drink and shot him a tiny smile. "If you think that it's all about you, you're wrong you big doofus. It's the intersect that I've been protecting all these while. Who cares about some giant nerd."

Chuck laughed. "Yeah... keep saying that, Carina. Who knows, someday you might actually believe it."

"Get out, Chuck," she pushed him away, the hint of humour evident in her eyes. "I need to get some sleep... or would you rather sleep here," she grinned saucily at him.

"Well," he deliberated, his eyes scanning around the room, "Your room is quite cosy," Chuck looked at her in mischief.

"That's bold. Are you flirting with me, Agent Carmichael?"

"Trying not to."

"And how's that working for you?"

"Ermm, not good." They looked at each other and both laughed in unison.

"Oww," she cringed slightly, touching her cheek. "Don't make me laugh, Chuck."

"Sorry, sorry," he apologized, rubbing her arm gently. "I'll leave you for now." Chuck gathered the mug in his hand, leaving the ice pack behind. "I'll check on you tomorrow morning." As he was about to leave, he surprised her by planting a quick kiss on her left cheek.

"Night, Carina."

Carina watched him leave her side; the smile disappearing from her features as her heart sank further with every step he took. She knew something was up. The higher ups were definitely hatching a plan for her partner. And Carina prayed that it would not be what she thought it would be. She feared he wasn't yet ready for it.

With a heavy heart, she set her mug aside, switched off her bedside lamp and pulled her comforter up to chest. It was going to be another one of those restless nights again.

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><p><em>Well that finally concludes 'Beautiful Mess'. Don't know if I'll ever revisit it again. But you know, never say never right? ;) I don't have anymore hidden chapters up my sleeves. That said, I'm gonna take a break from writing. Again. So see ya when I see ya! Thanks.<em>


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